Safety canopy for cribs



Jan. 18, 1955 s. H. POTTER SAFETY CANOPY FOR canes Filed Aug. 22, 1952 INVENTOR -$TANLEY H. POTTER.

mm -flwm um ATTORNEYS United States Patent SAFETY CANOPY FOR CRIBS Stanley H. Potter, Browns Store, Va.; Lorraine Potter, administratrix of said Stanley H. Potter, deceased Application August 22, 1952, Serial No. 305,831 A 1 Claim. (Cl. 135-51) This invention relates to a canopy adapted to be mounted upon a childs crib, to provide a desirable safety device.

Many times, a small child will climb out of a crib and suffer a fall, and it will readily be appreciated, accordingly, that it is desirable to provide a safety device which will make it impossible for an accident of this type to happen.

In still other instances, an adjustable side panel of a crib will become accidentally disengaged while it is in its raised position, and will drop down, again raising the possibility of injury to the child.

In view of the above, it is proposed, in accordance with the present invention, to provide a safety canopy for a childs crib, which will be so designed as to prevent the child from climbing out of the crib and falling, and which will be further so designed as to insure against accidental dropping of the raised side panel.

Another object of importance is to provide a canopy of the type stated which, in addition to the desirable safety features embodied therein, will provide a shade canopy for a crib, thus to permit the crib to be placed out of doors in the sun Without danger of the child being exposed to the sun to an excessive extent.

Another object is to provide a canopy as described which can be mounted upon any of various conventional cribs, without requiring modification, redesign, or disassembly of said cribs.

Another object is to provide a safety canopy as discussed above which will be of separable construction, thus to permit parts of the canopy to be removed whenever desired, while other parts of the canopy are left in assembled relation to a crib.

Still another object is to provide a canopy as described which can be manufactured at very low cost, from conventionally formed elements.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout theseveral views, and wherein: 1

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a safety canopy formed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2. is an edge elevational view in which the canopy is viewed from the underside of Figure 1, the canopy being shown in operative relation to a crib, said crib being illustrated fragmentarily; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged, detail, top plan view showing, fragmentarily, one corner portion of the canopy.

In accordance with the present invention, the protective device comprises a canopy designated generally by the reference numeral 10, said canopy being adapted to be mounted upon a conventional childs crib 12.

The crib 12 is provided with the usual end panels 14, said end panels having, along one edge thereof, vertically disposed guide rods 16 on which an adjustable side panel is slidably mounted. The side panel 18 is mounted upon the guide rods 16 for up and down adjustment between raised and lowered positions, the side panel being illustrated in the raised position thereof. Conventionally, a latch means is provided, that releasably engages the side panel 18 in its upper position, but in some instances, said latch means will be accidentally disengaged, with the result being that the side panel 18 will drop downwardly.

The canopy includes a pair of elongated side members 20, the members 20 being oppositely threaded at their respective ends, and being formed from suitable lengths of conventional pipe stock. End members 24 are also formed from conventional pipe stock and oppositely threaded at their respective ends, the end members extending along the top edges of the respective and panels 14 of the crib.

Connecting elements 26 are provided, that join the respective ends of the side members 20 to the end members 24, to form an open, rectangular frame adapted to be disposed in a horizontal plane, above the upper edges of the end panels 14 (see Figure 2).

The connecting elements 26 are conventional Ls, threaded at their opposite ends to engage the adjacent ends of the side and end members 20, 24 respectively. As a result, the Ls 26 provide fixed, but separable connections at the several corners of the rectangular frame, whereby the sides 20 can be separably but fixedly attached to the ends 24 of said frame.

A flexible canopy member 28 is of generally rectangular outer configuration, and is substantially coextensive in area with the area of the frame. The canopy member 28, along its opposite sides, has tubular hems 30 receiving the side members 20 of the frame, said canopy member 28 having, at its ends, tubular hems 32 receiving the end members 24 of the frame. Lines of stitching 34, 36 are employed to define the hems 3 0, 32 of the canopy member 28.

At its corners, the canopy member 28 is cut away as at 38, to provide clearance for the Ls 26.

In attaching the device to a crib, screws or equivalent fastening elements 40 are employed. A pair of screws has been used, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, at each end of the device, the screws of said pair being spaced longitudinally of each end of the frame, and extending through suitable openings formed in the end members 24, into threaded engagement with the top edges of the end panels 14.

Means is provided in the invention adapted to detachably engage the side panel 18 of the crib, in the raised position of said side panel. To this end, flexible straps 42 are spaced longitudinally of one side of the canopy, said straps being connected by screws or equivalent fastening elements 44 to the adjacent side member 20 of the frame. The straps 42 are adapted to be looped about the top rail of the side panel 18, when said side panel is raised, and after the straps are positioned about the top rail in this manner, separable fasteners 46, carried by the straps, can be employed to hold the straps in their desired relationship to the side panel 18.

It will be seen that when the device is associated with a crib in the manner shown in Figure 2, it will be impossible for the child to climb out of the crib, and it will further be impossible for the side panel 18 to drop downwardly should it become accidentally unlatched. The canopy thus effectively protects the child at all times, and in addition, is adapted to afford shade should the crib be used out of doors.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a crib of the type having vertical end panels and vertical side panels extending therebetween, one of said side panels being vertically adjustable; a canopy comprising an open rectangular frame horizontally disposed above said end panels, said frame including a pair of spaced parallel side members overlying and coextensive with respective side panels and in spaced relation thereto, and a pair of spaced parallel end members coextensive with and adapted to be supported upon the top of respective end panels, each of said side and. end members being oppositely threaded at their respective ends, complementary threaded connecting elements fixedly joining the threaded ends of adjacent side and end members, fastening elements carried by each of said end members and extending into the top of respective end panels to overlying said vertically adjustable side panel, said means engageable with said vertically adjustable side. panel to releasably retain said adjustable panel in its 10 elevated position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bates July 25, Jones Dec. 27, Boardman Aug. 21, Ball Oct. 16, 

